


Consider it Charity

by Redemption_Arc



Category: Avengers (Comics), Hawkeye (Comics), Iron Man (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Deaf Clint Barton, Mental Health Issues, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-02-07 16:41:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12845253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redemption_Arc/pseuds/Redemption_Arc
Summary: Fact of the matter was, at the end of the day he was genuinely just a scared kid.





	1. Chapter 1

Clint watched as the lights of the circus all started to flicker on as the sun slowly fell down passed the edge of the trees. Watched as the Ferris Wheel slowly turned and blinked as the lights flashed in some predetermined pattern. He would have listened to the sounds of the crowds coming in or even the chatter of the other carnies rushing to finish setting up for the big ten show.

 

But he had lost his hearing last year when some Enforcers for a gang that Carson owned money to rigged one of the cars they used to explode and Clint had lost his hearing the resulting damage. Spent two weeks in the hospital and came out of it with hearing aids that barely corrected the silence and sky high bills he never had the hope to pay off when he didn’t even have a home. Though those bills got sent back to his family home in Iowa and he never had any intention of going back there.

 

The young archer looked up passed the lights and counted the few stars that he could see this far out from the circus. The last five years had been as unkind as the first twelve and knowing that his eighteenth was around the corner made the burning desire to leave this place as fast as possible all the more hotter. Fuck if he had a plan though, he never had a plan. All he knew how to do was survive and he was barely doing that. None of his skills would be useful outside of a corrupt place like this. Carson’s circus was such a joke. 

 

In a list of things he could do, pickpocketing and stealing without getting caught was the highest on the list. Though when shooting he could never miss so maybe he could get his arrest record erased by jumping into the military. Among other things he was good at survival, even if it was a day to day thing. By making himself as small as possible to hide and fit into places he shouldn't be able to or by playing the scared kid card. He was ridiculously good at manipulating people, if they didn’t know him. And he was exceptional at lying, save for a few occasions had talked his way out of getting arrested or getting into more trouble than needed. It had also saved him from facing Caron’s whip more than he needed to. 

 

Fact of the matter was, at the end of the day he was genuinely just a scared kid.

 

Part of him would always feel guilty for the things he had done to keep himself alive or to even eat when Carson cut everyone’s pay by over half. Because of that he constantly feared punishment from Carson for what he did outside of the circus to have a little extra money. Since anything they stole during the performance went straight to Carson’s safe. This wasn’t the life that he wanted, but it was the one that Barney drove them into headon. He wanted to trust his brother but over the last few years he found that he couldn't, that he never should have in the first place.

 

In the present moment the blonde sighed and rubbed a hand down his face as he came to the realization that no matter how hard he tried he could never completely hide how terrified his life made him, how every choice he made only seemed to drive him further into the ground. He knew people were starting to connect the dots, where he was when he was away, where some of his money was coming from. It was only a matter of time before he would be forced to bite the bullet and face his actions. One of Trickshot’s minions had already found him out, but instead of ratting him out had instead decided that blackmail was better and Clint picked up regulars he never wanted, hated himself more since his choice in the matter had been ripped away. The people he earned money from weren’t the nicest to start with. He desperately wished he could be like the kids he watched leave at the end of the night, they all seemed happy, safe. Uncaring of the horrors that the world had to offer.

 

His moment of solitude was rapidly ripped away from him when he was dragged up from the ground by the back of his jacket. He wasn’t sure if he had cried out or not, he thought maybe but the next thing he knew he was shoved back against the tree he had been sitting against. He swallowed down his pounding heart and looked up into harsh brown eyes. 

 

Seemed like Trickshot’s minion had just sold him out.

 

“Y’think y’can just lie ta me, street rat?” The words practically spit at him were difficult to hear, even with the hearing aids volume turned up and even attempting to lip read would be impossible when the man’s speech butchered words around the Ukrainian accent. He was Carson’s second and was just as bad as Carson when it came to dealing out punishments.

 

“I haven’t! I swear, I don't have any money and I haven’t narked!” Clint felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest, he couldn’t take another beating, not when the whip lashes on his back hadn’t even really started to heal yet.

 

“Then where y’sneakin’ off ta after shows, huh? Comin’ back in the early morning? What stupid fuck is housin you.”

 

Every part of Clint’s survival instincts screamed at him to run. Ivanov knew, he knew and clint was bound to get killed for it. But with the vice grip the man was keeping him pinned to the tree impeded any chance he had at escape. Despite the terror running ice cold through the archer’s veins he somehow kept a blank face and shook his head. “Not comin’ back from anywhere, sir, just walkin’. Can’t sleep.” Ironically the money that was tucked inside his jacket seemed to burn, like it was mocking him. He knew he shouldn’t have left last night, not when things surrounding him were so heated.

 

Ivanov let go of Clint’s jacket and patted the boy down from head to toe and checked all of his outside pockets. The entire time Clint was barely keeping himself from shaking, his heart firmly sitting up his throat. The Ukranian growled his frustration and shoved Clint back, “I catch another word y’sneakin’ around again and it’ll be twenty lashes and no dinner for a week.”

 

Clint stumbled on his feet when his back hit the tree and nodded quickly, only having caught half of what the other man had said and now mute out of sheer relief out of not getting caught. He had been nearly certain that he was done for this time. “Y-yes sir..” He barely managed to get the words out and took off into a sprint to his tent as the other man lumbered off to the trailers. Why had the rich fuck just handed him money. Anyone else would have called the cops. ‘Jail would have left me better off than this shit show.’ he thought to himself as he crawled onto his cot, glad everyone else was out working the crowds. For once he was glad he wasn’t part of the show and could just force himself to sleep the rest of the night. The smartest thing would be to stay close for once. Even if all he could think about was leaving as he fell asleep for the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But let’s be real, he was never all that honest with himself.

Tony was slow in getting ready through morning, having spent nearly two hours simply just lying in bed. The curtains drawn over his widows to keep the morning sun from even trying to brighten the darkened room. Well, mostly darkened. As he laid on his side facing away from the curtains his face and part of his bed were cast in a faint blue glow, the reactor in his chest humming dully as he watched the light move as his breathed. All the events from Afghanistan and the betrayal with Stane still played through his head each night and kept him from sleeping, made him a bit jumpy and maybe more than a little paranoid if he were honest with himself. 

 

But let’s be real, he was never all that honest with himself.

 

He sighed, absently tapping over the faceplate of the reactor and looked over the unmade side of his bed he hadn’t even slept on. It should have been a normal sight given what everyone thought of him, but he couldn’t quite get the image of the kid who had been asleep there out of his head either. He could relate in that no one that young should look that beat up. Tony knew that look of putting up a mask to hide the jumbled fuck all of emotions that could run around someone’s head. Hel, half his thoughts never made any sense anymore with the way that he couldn’t focus unless he was working. Life was a bitch.

 

The billionaire pushed himself to sit up finally, finding the energy to actually pull himself out of bed. Though while he was sitting upright with his feet on the ground he couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling that if someone like that could break into his private apartment then what about someone who was actually trying to kill him. Jarvis hadn’t even picked up on the fact that someone was in the building for the first few hours the kid had been asleep. Nothing had been stolen though and the kid had been skittish as hel, wanting to get out of there.

 

He rested his head his hands as he still tried to figure out how the kid had gotten in, much less why he was there. With a quick shake of his head Tony stood up and went about taking a shower, hoping the heated water would help clear his head. Though that was doubtful.

 

An hour later Jarvis kindly informed him that both Pepper and Rhodey were coming up to the apartment and that he had a half hour until his meeting. This cut his showered escape short and he got out to at least get half way dressed, the last thing he really wanted was either of them rushing him along when his head was a clouded mess, not that he would let them know that. 

 

Dressed all but for his shoes, Tony went to his kitchen to make up some coffee, fully intending on adding whiskey to it. His drinking was possibly becoming a bit much, but he had a handle of it still so he felt no reason to worry about it. Given everything else that had happened this seemed hardly like an issue. 

 

The front door opened to Pepper first and Rhodey soon after, one look at the red head’s face told Tony all he needed to know that she had found out about the break in and was more than ready to jump down his throat for not reporting it. She meant well, he knew that. She was worried and he knew that too. Didn’t mean he looked forward to the lecture. 

 

“Why on earth did you not, firstly, call the police when you found you had been broken into, and secondly, called anyone else when it happened? Do you understand the implications of that, that someone was able to bypass all the security you have set up to keep you safe? That it could have been someone other than some teenager seeking a thrill?” Pepper had started off, not even half a step through the door and continued her lecture has she found him in the kitchen. Though she paused and reached across the counter to take the whiskey bottle. “And don’t even think about adding that. What were you thinking yesterday?”

 

“It’s sweet that you care.” Tony muttered, rolling his eyes as he loosened his tie. It already felt too tight this early, truth be told he wanted it off. Or to just crawl back into his bed, or to his lab. He could easily add more modifications to his suits, or make up something better than what that kid had in his ears. Didn’t seem like he could hear all that well.

 

“And I appreciate the concern.” Thought is was clear that his tone indicated otherwise as he leaned back against the counter, waiting on his coffee to finish. It’d still be good even without the spike he wanted. “But frankly if that was someone’s attempt to murder me or kidnap me again it failed spectacularly. The kid looked more scared of me than I should have been of him.”

 

Pepper served him a flat look, crossing her arms over his chest. “That’s the point here and you know it. Why have such an advanced A.I. if some kid can get in without setting off any of the alarms. He’s obviously skilled and we don’t know at what.”

 

Tony waved her off and turned back to pour some coffee into a travel mug, deciding to add a ridiculous amount of sugar instead since she had taken the whiskey. “So consider it charity, like my public work but more subtle. If you had seen him like i had you would know that he wouldn’t make it in any of the jails in the state, for as small as he was. I handed over some money, hopefully he’ll use it for a bus ticket and get the hel outta this place.  _ And  _ he was asleep when I found him. Thought he was gonna jump out of his skin when i woke him up.”

 

Rhodey sighed and rubbed his eyes, “Tony, that doesn’t excuse that he got in without tripping any of your alarms. Innocent or not it doesn’t make any sense unless he was after something that you haven’t thought of.”

 

Tony gave him a sour look, “I’ve thought of everything as to why some homeless kid would break in and all this kid did was sleep in my bed. Nothing was taken.” He shrugged soon after and sipped at the way too sugary coffee, he didn’t feel like remaking it at this point. “And on that note, the pressure sensor on all the widows and floors under them is set to around 140 lbs and the kid was maybe 100 lbs give or take, more take than give here, and he’s scrawny on top of the underweight thing so I have no doubt that he could fit through anything without much problem.” 

 

He turned to look at them both now, “You tell me, who would send a malnourished and beat up kid to kill me?” 

 

“I still think you should have called the police.”

 

“Pepper, my dear, my darling, I’m not even remotely worried about this. I had Rodney’s military buddies try to break in and they couldn’t. Kid got lucky.” Tony gave her a smile, though he knew to himself that it was fake. That everything she pointed out ran through his head in a paranoid way, but he wouldn’t admit that. “All those mad investors of Howard’s are just going to have to accept we aren’t an arms dealer any more.” He gave a more convincing grin to both of them when they gave him disapproving looks. “Like I said, kid got lucky. Now aren’t I supposed to be in some meeting or another?”

 

Thin fingers ran through red hair as pale eyes narrowed at the billionaire. Pepper clearly wasn’t happy with his non chalantness about the situation but if he gave into his own thoughts he might never leave his lab again. Can’t have that. “Investors meeting actually. And make a point to not call them ‘mad’, we still need their support to keep SI’s stocks from falling any further.”

 

“Really wish you have let me have the whiskey then.” Tony moved to grab his jacket out of the closet. “Oh, and Jarvis! Rest the weight sensors to 85 and alert me if anyone happens to get in again. Happy Pepper?”

 

**Of course, sir.**

 

Pepper rolled her eyes and followed Rhodey and Tony out of the apartment. “Hardly.”

 

As the locks clicked in the door Tony had a the ever present feeling that he never should have left the apartment. That he should have stayed home but that was something he felt any time he left the general safety of his home. Hopefully the day would end quickly and he could be by himself again. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcus only laughed more and stepped closer, he had nearly a whole head on Clint in height. “Listen, ya scrawny little fuck, you rat on me an’ I’ll make damn sure you wished you were dead.”

Clint woke in the mid afternoon and sighed as his stomach gave him a faint pained feeling that sparked through the dull ache in his back. He would have thought that years of going hungry and fighting to get to the next day would have made the pain he was in more bearable, but it didn’t. Tiredly the teen rubbed his eyes and then went to adjust the way his hearing aids set in his ears, messing with the volume before actually getting up and crawling out of the tent. He held a hand over his eyes to block out the sun as he looked out over the nearly vacant circus grounds, Monday’s were usually the only days the performers could get off the grounds and do what they wanted. It was also the day that Carson disappeared to take care of his “investors”.

 

At least with that general information Clint could stash the money he had gained into Carson’s safe to cover what Trickshot and Barney had skimmed. He shouldn’t stick his neck out for his brother like that, all things considered, but Carson would take his anger out on everyone in the circus and the younger kids didn’t need to suffer through that. Also with the safe balanced it should leave him in the clear long enough to get better. 

 

Problem here now was that while Carson was gone, Clint had missed breakfast and his only chance to get into the main trailer while it was unlocked. He sighed when he noticed Marcus and Isabell heading toward the big top, meant they were practicing instead of going into the city. Also meant that he would get roped into practice with them.

 

Isabell ran up to him when she spotted him first, a grin cutting across her face. She was one of the few that actually like him. “Hey! Want to join Marcus and I? With everyone out we figured it would be easier to practice the areole performance for tonight.” She signed it out as well, was the only one to care enough to teach him sign language after his accident.

 

“Uhh, sure, yeah, I just gotta drop off my portion to Carson’s trailer.” Clint fumbled a bit as he spoke and signed back, it was easier to learn than anything he had learned in school. Though he had dropped out after sixth grade when Barney lead them to this life. “Meet you both at the big top? And, let me be the one to tell Marcus, you don’t need to be the center of his rage ‘bout me bein’ late.”

 

Red ringlet curls bounced around the younger girl’s head as she nodded and then started off back to Marcus, following the dark skinned boy into the Big Top.

 

Clint bit at his lip as he watched them go, realistically he should just take the money and run, that’s what he wanted to do. But the small bit of loyalty he still felt to his brother kept him from running toward the city but instead toward Carson’s trailer to drop the money off in a bag on the steps.

 

Once that was settled he started back over to practice with his fellow performers. He couldn't really consider them friends. Isabell meant well but all he wanted to do was shield her from how awful this place could get and with Marcus… It was more complicated since they had stopped sleeping together. The other boy was less than friendly now.

 

A few hours into the practice Clint started to stumble and land on his knees during his landings, feeling incredibly light headed and weak. It was getting irritating to him just as much as it was to Marcus. Who even made a point to make some comment each time he missed the landing. This felt impossible. After about the tenth failed landing Marcus grabbed Clint up from the dirt by his jacket sleeve and dragged him out of the big top, the archer hardly keeping up with the pace the other boy had decided to pick.

 

“The hel is up with you? You’re never this off?”

 

Clint frowned a bit, only catching part of what Marcus had said, and shook his head. “Feel sick, haven’t eaten. I’m fine.”

 

Marcus let go of Clint’s arm and turned to look at the smaller teen. “Carson’ll have a finger he finds out you’re slippin’ up just ‘cause you're hungry. Man we’re all hungry. It’s hardly an excuse.”

 

Grey eyes looked up to meet nearly black ones and glared slightly. “He’ll be too pleased about the six hundred left for him.” The second the words left his month Clint thought he could kick himself. Being tactful was never his strong suit.

 

The older boy barked out a laugh, “You givin’ him that whore money now? Think it’ll give you a leg up?”

 

White hot anger flashed through the younger boy’s eyes and Clint shoved Marcus back. “Shut the hell up, you don’t know shit!” Despite it all he knew his face was bright red and the sick feeling in his stomach only got worse now. He was never great at handling conflict either, automatically resorting to fighting his way out. Survival instincts were stupid. “You rat me out about where that money came from an’ I’ll tell him you get a part of Trickshot’s cut of what he’s been stealing. I know you and Barney help him out, rob Carson blind.” He snapped back, hands balling into fists at his sides.

 

Marcus only laughed more and stepped closer, he had nearly a whole head on Clint in height. “Listen, ya scrawny little fuck, you rat on me an’ I’ll make damn sure you wished you were dead.”

 

Joke’s on him Clint always wished that.

 

Clint ground his teeth together and he launched himself at the other boy, knocking Marcus off balance and when he went to punch him he was shoved back. Tripping over his feet the archer fell back against the ground, sucking in a pained breath soon after the wind had been knocked out of his lungs.

 

Marcus regained his balance faster, watching as Clint scrambled back to try and get back up on his feet. “Nu-uh, not so fast.” The older boy grabbed his arm in a practical vice grip and lifted him up enough so that his feet weren’t touching the ground. “You wanna threaten me, you’re bite better be worse than your bark.”

 

Clint twisted in the tight hold, pain shooting through his shoulder at the way he was held up, and kicked his legs eventually managing a kick to Marcus’ stomach. He sucked in a breath to prepare for being dropped and rolled away when it happened. “I spend all my time on a tight-rope! What’d you think taking the ground from me would do!?” He didn’t get the chance to smart off again, hardly up on his feet when he was knocked back with a punch to his jaw.

 

Tears blurred his vision as pain shot through the side of his face and made his teeth feel like they had been rattled. His stomach twisted painfully as he swallowed blood. Clint glared down at the ground and spit out the chip taken from his tooth. His breathing felt ragged and the adrenaline running through him now started to mask some of the pain. 

 

“What’re you gonna cry now? Can’t take a hit?”

 

Clint didn’t really catch what Marcus said, but he knew that it was a taunt. A few tears slipped down his cheek and he pushed himself back to his feet. “Want me down, gotta do better than that.” He ignored every slight flare up of pain and threw a punch of his own, blindly. Uneasy gratification went through him when he saw blood pour from Marcus’ now broken nose. His heart leapt into his throat and he froze for half a second before taking off in a dead sprint toward the city.

 

He felt absolutely elated that he had at least gained the upper hand in a fight, but dread quickly snaked its way through his head at how things would go when he eventually went back. He didn’t have anything else or anywhere else to actually go to and he might as well have just signed his own death certificate. Why was he so stupid. Why was he so impulsive.

 

He didn’t stop running until he couldn’t breath anymore and he felt like his legs were about to give out under him. Honestly if he died in an alley after that at least he would have his pride. Spotting a familiar fire escape Clint barely managed to round up enough energy and willpower to climb up it, glad that it had been left down from his hasty escape yesterday. Every part of his body hurt now, more than before and every breath that he took in burned worse than anything and the idea that he might actually die did scare him a bit. 

 

Clint collapsed onto the metal landing of the fire escape, hardly feeling the way the metal grating dug into his bones as the world around him faded out into black. At least now he didn’t have to feel anything.

 

Hours went by before Clint regained consciousness, his thoughts felt sluggish and it was dark now but nothing like the unnatural way he had blacked out. Stupidly he tried to push up on his arms only to have them give out as he fell back against the metal. He tried to focus on his breathing instead at that point, glad that the cold of the metal was starting to make his thoughts less fuzzy. Clint had no idea how long he waited to try and sit up again, but with his second attempt he was successful and leaned back against outside edge of a window sill. He squeezed his eyes shut as he let out a breath, wanting the overall ache of pain to fade. 

 

When he finally did look around he swore under his breath as he realized that he ran himself to the same neighborhood and the same apartment he had broken into. Clint groaned as he laid his head back against the window sill, god he was such an idiot. And he was too weak to even attempt looking for somewhere else to go. This sucked, everything sucked.

 

With an annoyed huff he forced his legs to work and stood slowly, holding onto the railing to keep from falling either back or over the side of the fire escape. He felt like he might throw up even though he knew there was nothing to throw up. Once the world stopped spinning for a second Clint moved over to the window he had gone in through the night before, letting out a relieved breath when it opened without a problem. “Idiot doesn’t lock his windows.”

 

Clint opened it just slightly, making sure to not move it passed the internal sensor and slipped in through the crack he made. He was careful not to knock the in table by the window as he made it through and crouched down on the floor, shutting the window behind him. The space before him was shrouded in the shadows, most of the curtains drawn tightly over the widows. Though he took a guess that he was in the living room again based on the dark rectangle that was more than likely the couch. “Same as last time.. Smart thing would be to steal some shit an’ pawn it. Leave town before anyone even tries to look for me..”

 

Black spots started to fill his vision again and he pushed himself to stand, swaying a bit and stumbled over to the couch. Barely making it before he passed out again. He could only hope that he landed on the couch and not the floor, but he had a faint idea he broke something from the way that his pain doubled. Didn’t have to worry about it if he was out cold.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Y’know as fascinating as this several hour long meeting has been I do actually have to be somewhere else. And no, as much as you would like me to choke on a scotch I am not going out for drink.”

Tony hardly paid attention during the investors meeting, actually checking his phone more than normal to check the security feeds to see if that kid had showed back up. He had only guessed at the weight that would set the sensor off based on what he had seen the first time. He couldn’t explain the worry that he felt for this scrawny brat that had broken into his apartment just to sleep it had seemed like, but he wanted to help even if it didn’t make any sense.

 

Pepper nudged his leg when he completely missed a question and reached over to try and take the phone out of the man’s hand. To which Tony only moved it out of her reach and looked across the table to the investors on the other side, one eyebrow raised for them to repeat their question.

 

“Are you finally going to join us, Mr. Stark?” One incredibly unremarkable bald man asked, arms crossing over his chest as he met his eyes.

 

“Uh.. I mean, yeah, I’m here aren’t I?”

 

“Would you rather be drowning yourself in alcohol?”

 

Tony narrowed his eyes, annoyed at the accusation and looked to his phone when it chimed as an alert. “Y’know as fascinating as this several hour long meeting has been I do actually have to be somewhere else. And no, as much as you would like me to choke on a scotch I am not going out for drink.” He stood, straightening out his shirt and giving them all a fake and small smile. “I believe Miss Potts is more than qualified to answer in my place.”

 

Pepper held a hand over her eyes as she listened to Tony’s equivalent of ‘go fuck yourself’ and only looked up after she heard the conference room door shut behind the retreating man. “I apologize for his words and I do hope he didn’t offend anyone.”

 

Tony made his way as quickly as he could through the Tower, that feeling of worry building as he read over the alert that Jarvis had sent him. The kid had apparently slipped in through the same window as last time, setting off both the cameras and the reset weight sensor. From the look of it the boy wasn’t doing well either. He hadn’t been the last time either but this seemed worse.

 

He sat in the seat of his car for a moment as he switched to the live feed he could only see the scattered objects from the coffee table the kid was collapsed over. Obviously he hadn’t seen it. Tossing his phone into the passenger seat he started the car and took off a little too fast out of the parking structure under the Tower.

 

Realistically he should call an ambulance but there would be a huge PR nightmare to deal with during and after surrounding the malnourished near dead teenager that had now broken in twice. Granted Tony had let is happen the second time to see if he would come back.

 

“Jarvis I want a scan of his vitals and the closest EMT’s contacted. Make sure it’s known they cannot take that kid out of the apartment until I get there.” Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair as he swerved around traffic. He really should just start living in the tower. Maybe his life wouldn’t be crazy all the time then. Though that was unlikely.

 

**“Of course sir. The closest team will arrive in ten minutes, the doors will be unlocked for them. Also sir, are you sure it is wise to draw attention to yourself.”**

 

“Y’know, I don’t think I wanted that asked J. Don’t startle the EMT’s when they arrive, just let them work on the kid.”

 

**“Of course sir.”**

 

When Tony arrived back at the apartment an ambulance was parked out in front of the building, lights on but the EMT’s clearly not sitting inside. “Could get stolen like that.” He said to himself and parked his own car before heading up to his apartment. Inside it was clear that the kid had run into the coffee table and passed out soon after, knocking everything off and hurting himself further in the process. Though the EMT’s had him sitting on the couch now, not that he seemed all that alert as one of the flashed a small light in his eyes.

 

“Hey, what’s your name?” The other EMT asked, checking the boy’s blood pressure and heart rate. “Can you tell me your name, son?” Repeating the question when he didn’t answer the first time.

 

The teen raised one hand to try and get the light out of his eyes only to have his arm pushed down by the EMT in front of him. “Clint. It’s Clint, can you get that light outta m’face?” His speech was slurred and the vibrations he had gotten used to feeling didn’t feel right as he spoke. He tried to sign that his name but his hands were shaking too much to be of any use.

 

The first EMT shut off the light and took Clint’s chin her hand and turn his head to either side, letting go she let him refocus on her before holding her hands up. ‘Are you deaf?’

 

Clint frowned but nodded, rubbing his left arm when the other  EMT took the wrap off his arm. The black dots started to form at the edge of his vision again and he must have looked like he was about to pass out again because the one that had signed to him held his right shoulder to keep him upright.

 

Tony dropped his keys on the kitchen counter and came around the back of the couch to stand next to the woman keeping the teen upright. “What’s the verdict.”

 

“I highly recommend that you let us take him to the hospital. He is incredibly malnourished and if he passes out again he may not wake up from it again.”

 

Clint looked up at Tony when he appeared next to the EMT. He regretted showing up here again, he should have just let Marcus beat him up. He was loath to admit that he felt scared, after all of this and he might still end up in jail. Pain radiated all over his boy and felt ridiculously thirsty and all he wanted was something to drink.

 

The other EMT came back over with a bottle of water and a juice box from one of the bags that had been brought in. The teen took them both, hands still shaking completely drained the water bottle in a matter of seconds.

 

“I have an associate who I personally trust better than a hospital.” Tony replied, watching as Clint drained the juice box in much the same way as the water. “Is he injured anywhere?”

 

The first EMT sighed and let of Clint, standing slowly. “I’m sure he’s covered in bruises, we saw a few when he was unconscious and we replaced the soiled bandages on his back. Where ever you found this kid he needs attention from a doctor.”

 

It hadn’t occurred to him that the boy was shirtless and white gauze was wrapped around his upper torso, though it was clear he was covered in bruises and old scars. Maybe letting them take him to the hospital was for the better. “Hm.. She’s a little better than a doctor.”   
  


“If you’re really going to keep him here then he needs more fluids and to eat, start something light and move to heavier foods once he has adjusted to eating properly.” The second EMT gave the advice and packed their stuff up back in the bags. “Come on, Sadie. If he’s refusing we take the minor we don’t take him.”

 

“That is..” She shook her head, giving Tony a dirty look before leaving with her partner.

 

Clint watched them leave, uncertainty filling him as the door shut behind them and left him with the owner of the apartment. He looked back to Tony who was still standing near the couch in front of him. “Gonna kill me aren’t you?”

 

Tony looked confused and a little worried at the question before shaking his head. “Going to call a friend of mine and have her take a look at you, but in the meantime let’s get you dressed and something to eat before you do pass out again.”

 

“The juice helped.”

 

Tony nodded and moved into the kitchen to get him a glass of orange juice and sent a text out to Natasha for her to come over and help him with a small problem. “And what do you like to eat?” He spoke a bit louder after having found out the poor kid was also deaf. He’d have to make something to help with that, what Clint had looked cheap and more than likely hardly worked. Though he didn’t understand why he wanted to help him so badly.

 

Clint found that he didn’t know the answer to that and turned on the couch to look where Tony had gone. He half expected him to call the police if he wasn’t going to kill him. It didn’t make sense to be that paranoid here when the guy had let him go the first time but he couldn’t shake the fear. “Whatever I’m just starving”   
  
“Can see that.” Tony said to himself and had Jarvis simply order from a variety of places, the kid would probably eat anything set in front of him currently. “Well, until food and my friend does get here how about some crackers? That’s light, yeah?” He grabbed the box out of a cabinet and brought both the box and the juice over to the teen. “My name’s Tony. Funny seeing you here twice.”

 

Clint gave him a funny look and picked up the crackers, eating a few to try and stop the sick feeling in his stomach. Today had been a mess and presently nothing made sense. “Why help me?”

 

Tony shrugged, sitting in a chair off to the side and turned the tv on to cover the odd silence that filled the room. “Consider it charity.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was edited as I typed it out of a notebook however not reread once typed out so if there are mistakes I apologize and will look to correct them in the future


End file.
